Location can be an important part of an individual's context. Vast amounts of information can be associated with an individual's geographic location and, if the individual is traveling, a geographic location of her destination. Conventionally, an individual traveling from one location to another location typically employs a map as a guide. However, utilization of a map can require the individual to identify a route by which to traverse from her current location to her destination. Additionally, such a traveler is typically only notified of information relevant to her current location or destination based on word of mouth, personal familiarity, etc. By way of illustration, if the traveler is in a location where she has not previously visited, she may be unaware as to the location of a gas station, a restaurant, or the like, and thus, may have to resort to asking for assistance or watching for signs along the road. By way of further illustration, the driver who uses a map may only find out about traffic congestion by listening to a radio station that provides such information.
A number of applications are commonly available that support generating a map from a starting point to a destination. For example, such applications typically can provide a user with driving directions as well as a map that depicts a route from a beginning position to a destination. By way of illustration, the user can input a starting point and an end point and the application can yield the associated driving directions and/or map(s) (e.g., highlighting a route). These applications can be utilized in connection with devices such as personal computers, laptop computers, handhelds, cell phones and the like.
Recently, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices that can determine a location associated with the device are becoming more commonly utilized. For example, GPS can be employed with a navigation system of a vehicle to provide driving directions to the vehicle's driver. Pursuant to this example, the navigation system can display a map that is updated according to the vehicle's change in position. Further, the navigation system can provide the driver with step by step directions while the vehicle is traveling (e.g., by way of a display, a speaker, . . . ). However, conventional systems employing GPS (as well as other conventional techniques) typically require the user to directly input a destination. For example, a GPS device commonly will not provide driving directions to a vehicle's driver unless the driver indicates the location of the destination. Additionally, users may not input a destination every time that they are traveling; thus, alerts associated with the destination and/or an associated route may not be provided to the users. For instance, a user may not enter a destination when traversing to a location to which she often travels such as work, home, school, etc.; accordingly, relevant alerts may not be provided to the user.